


Survivors

by loni_meow



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: And also I missed Margaery and Loras, Angst and Feels, Bisexual Sansa Stark, Character Death Fix, F/F, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, I suddenly got motivation for this fic again because I wanted to write my own version of s8 badly, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm an asshole to characters y'know, I'm gonna fix stuff OK, Insecurity, Lesbian Margaery Tyrell, Loras Tyrell is alive, Margaery Tyrell Lives, Margaery and Loras are the best duo seriously I love writing them, Minor Renly Baratheon/Loras Tyrell, Okay at least trying to do so lol, Sansa can see things in fire, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, This is really angsty tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2019-06-30 08:41:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15748215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loni_meow/pseuds/loni_meow
Summary: Margaery and Loras Tyrell survived the destruction of the sept: But what now?





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> »Margaery remembered the Stark girl, a young flower, and a cute one. The Tyrell maybe liked her the most of all those people, with an exeption for her family, of course.«

She didn't know how she freed herself from the guards, that wanted to keep them in the sept, but she did, and it was good for them.

The only thing that mattered now where her brother's and her lives. She held his wrist and pulled him with her, while they ran away from the sept and the guards, and she wasn't really gentle. Not at all, to be honest.

"Margaery," Loras gasped suddenly. It was as if he just woke up from a coma, or a trance, or both.  
Margaery's stomach twisted when she had to push away all those people, so that they would get a way through.

She had realized, that Cersei was missing, and that this would mean danger. All those people that she hated or that were her enemies were in one building.  
Margaery just took Loras and tried to get out, but they blocked her way.

She didn't know how or why, but she came away from them, and Loras did, too. But Loras was a different man now, and he just followed Margaery, but didn't actually seem to want to live. And when the guards, that were watching so that no one could come out, began to chase them, Margaery ran even faster. She didn't care if her dress was slowly ripping into pieces, since they bumped into certain things or people.

"Let's go back, please. We need to go back. If we don't return, they'll chase us. Please," Loras begged, but he still followed his sister, probably because he hoped that she would listen.

But she didn't.

"If we go back, we'll die!" Margaery screamed over her shoulder, trying to get faster, but they already were fast, and she was loosing strength.

"Would that be so bad? I just want it to stop!" Loras said loudly into the wind that came up all of the sudden.  
Margaery's grap became more rough when she heard that, and when she heard, that the guards obviously lost them, she turned around.  
Longing for air, she became slower, until she stopped, her brother right next to her.

"We're safe. The people here probably-"  
It was such a short moment of peace, relieve and safety, and the people around them didn't say a word, so Margaery was totally right, but suddenly, they heard a loud noise, which was so loud that they felt like their ears just died.  
Margaery knew, and so she reacted. She didn't scream, there was no time for it.

Wildfire.

The Tyrell took all of her strength and hit Loras head with both fists, causing him to get uncounsious. His body was weak, and so she was the stronger Tyrell right now.  
The green fire rushed to them, but Margaery succeeded in letting herself fall on the seemingly lifeless body of her brother, shielding him with her own body. Margaery heard the screaming of dying people, and she almost cried, the first real time in her life.  
She put her hands under Loras and pressed her face onto his back, even if it hurt and took her some air.

It was some kind of sacrifice, and it depended on the explosion if she survived. But Loras would survive.

Margaery took one breath and then held it, while the fire reached them.  
Holding the breath wasn't a thing then anymore, Margaery screamed muffled into the back of her brother, feeling parts of her skin melt and her hair burn, feeling the wildfire at her naked arms, but it didn't reach her face or her hands.

And to her "luck", the pain knocked her out after some seconds, leaving her alone in the hopeless darkness, and having her collapsing right on Loras' body.

And so they remained there, on the ground, Margaery lying on Loras, around them other people who got the same amount of seafire.  
Some of those people were dead, some alive and "only" full of burnings.

Like Margaery. Her dress burned down at some places and her skin melted a bit at some parts. Her hair burned down, too, not everything, but it was noticable shorter.  
The biggest wound was on her back, while Loras' wounds weren't even close to the fatality that Margaery took to save him.  
Everybody in that area was laying there with them, or escaped from the explosion, however they did that.

So, in that two days where both of them were uncounsious, no one saw them, and no one searched after them, because all those people in King's Landing were sure that they died.

On the second day after the destruction of the sept, Loras woke up from a loud bell ringing. His head rose up quickly and he gasped in pain. Some pressure was on him, and he felt major pain in his back, where that pressure came from. It was as if his brain still needed some time, especially since his head hurt like someone was hitting him with a wooden stick over and over again.

He put his hands on the grounds, and suddenly, he felt the body warmth of someone else at his back.

"Margaery?" Loras asked loudly, confused, alone.  
Could she be the person on his back?  
He slowly turned around, grabbing the person before she could fall down.

After it took him a moment to recognize that, what had become out of Margaery, he then pulled her to his chest, while he saw the burnings on his arms. But Margaerys body was full of burnings, except on her hands and in her face. But her hair burned down a bit and her face was pale.

She didn't look like his sister. Only the similiar face told him, that it was her.  
But he hugged her, even if his back and his arms, also a bit of his head and legs, hurt

He noticed, that the almost dead body of Margaery started to shake, and he noticed even more, that her dress was completely destroyed. It had holes on the back, on the front, at her legs, arms, just everywhere. And he also saw melted or burned skin.  
It was gross and still fascinating, still, Loras decided to take her into his arms, standing up with her.  
He wanted Margaery to live, even if he himself didn't see any reason in living on.

Well, yeah, it was Margaery.

His forehead burned there, where they started to cut into his skin, but Margaery stopped them early enough. It probably was only one line, but it burned. And what burned deeper was the fact, that she noticed it so early, and she took him away, broke out of the sept, and now she was lying almost dead in his arms.

He didn't know what motivations gave him strength, but someone or something did a good job, because he went on, even if his legs told him that he shouldn't. And they really tried.

Margaery and Loras couldn't stay in King's Landing, not after this try to kill them, and he knew that better than someone could think.

And they were right, Loras actually wished that he'd have died in there. They really did great with their torture. Loras shook his head.

He shouldn't think about that now.

He still wondered why the bell ringed, though. It could've had many different meanings, but he didn't want to think about that, too. He only wanted to get different clothes for Margaery and himself, so that they could hide and escape underneath them. Loras didn't know where they should go, and how they should her there. They just needed to get out of there.

The body in his arms suddenly flinched a bit, what made him stop walking. He looked down at his sister, who was obviously trying to get her eyes open.

"Loras?" her gentle voice asked, grabbing his arm.  
"Is that you?"

She took a deep breath, and waited for an answer. "Yes," he said quietly and still stared at her. "We need to get new clothes. I'll bring us into the next area, maybe we'll be lucky there."

The Tyrell girl frowned and fought her eyes open, so that she could look at her brother, who still was carrying her. "It hurts so much," she whispered suddenly with tears in her eyes, looking down at herself.

"I feel like every piece of my body is burning," Margaery said and leaned back a bit. "We need to get out of King's Landing," she added as loud as her voice let her.  
Margaery looked back to the empty place where she once could see the sept behind all those buildings.

"I had the same idea," Loras muttered unsure and bit his lip when he went a bit faster.

"Do you really think that they'll help us?" Margaery suddenly asked, and the whole question itself confused the other Tyrell in a weird way.  
She always has been so optimistic, but she still was a genius in her own way. But now, in that moment, all of her optimism was gone, and Loras seemed like the optimistic one now.

"Sure. They love you," he said, and he wasn't unsure for one moment.  
His sister remained quiet in a uncomfortable way that made Loras unsure, but whatever she was thinking, she held it back.

Maybe it was better like that.

She closed her eyes slowly, but as soon as she heard someone talking, she rose up in Loras' arms.  
"Those are normal people," he calmed her down, "You know, I know how guards talk. Also, we would hear their armour."  
Margaery nodded and leaned against her brother's chest, staying quiet and being tired of this city. She hated King's Landing before, but now, she did even more.

Margaery coughed and felt like she would get sick, but it must've been her body heat that got warmer because of that burnings. She always lived in warm regions, but she hated things like sunburns.

Warm regions.

She always asked herself, how it would be to get from the north into the warm King's Landing.  
Margaery always wanted to ask Sansa about that.

Wait, Sansa.

Margaery remembered the Stark girl, a young flower, and a cute one. The Tyrell maybe liked her the most of all those people, with an exeption for her family, of course. But now, this little flower was probably fighting against the Bolton's with her brother.  
Or they've won already.  
Margaery excluded the thought of their failure, because she just got an idea, and she didn't want to let this idea down.

"North," she babbled, "We need to go into the north."

Loras looked down at her as if she went insane, but she didn't, it was something that could actually work. But there were so many problems, and if someone looked at them, he or she would always say that they couldn't make it.

"We're too weak," Loras spoke, and so he exposed their biggest problem.  
"And we need to hide."  
Well, there was the second biggest problem. Margaery sighed exhausted and hopeless, until she started shaking again.

"I'm cold," she whispered confused. She really was confused with being cold, since it was warm in King's Landing and Highgarden, almost too warm. She frowned again when Loras didn't say anything. He obviously was thinking about something, but Margaery wanted to now what and why. They only had each other now, and they were weak, even with each other. Loras became a bit faster again, so that Margaery wouldn't spend too much time freezing.

But she just cuddled onto him and closed her eyes, trying to force herself into sleeping.  
"You know what to do," Loras heard from her as a quiet whisper, and he wanted to disagree, but he was too late.

His body heat was comfortable enough for Margaery, so that she could sleep, even with major pain.

Loras didn't know what to do. He only knew that he needed to hold her warm, because her body otherwise is too exhausted from healing her burnings.  
He saw his searched area in the exact moment where he walked around a house wall, and he sighed relieved.

Finally.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> »Even if she was naked, in pain, crying and desperate, Loras was there for her. Quietly, he held her hand, waited, so that she could calm down.«

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just love Loras and Margaery being the best sibling-duo in the whole word, saving and helping each other.

Loras slowly walked into the crowd of people.

He saw disgust, confusion and disbelieve in their eyes, as long as they looked at him. Since the religion made a sinner of him, Loras didn't expect anything else from them. They didn't understand that he actually loved Renly, that they were happy, and that loving guys as a guy is normal. A few tears started to appear in this eyes, and he felt so weak again. All those hateful faces, staring at him, and no one helped the queen.

Well, maybe, they didn't recognize her.

But Loras definitely didn't want to give up now. He didn't want to live, to get out, to fight, but he wanted his sister to survive. His sister who lied, trying to protect him, who motivated him after Renly's death, and who now saved him from death again.  
"Help her", he brought up with a shaky voice. "She's your queen. Don't do it for me. Do it for Margaery."

And suddenly, the people began to move, and he let Margaery into the hands of a strong looking man who eyed Loras with admiration, when he saw their burnings.  
They escaped from the wildfire, but it felt like some of the people still didn't recognize Margaery, even if he said it.

Only now, Loras felt the weight on his heart, and the weakness crawling up inside him to control him.  
"Give her clothes. Also, a cloak to hide. Tell no one else that we live. Care about her wounds. We need to leave. When she wakes up," he whispered as good as he could, and the man nodded, looking and saying something to a woman, but Loras couldn't understand. He was tired, but he felt like he accomplished a mission, so he just closed his eyes and let his hurting body fall on the ground of King's Landing. Loras felt so relieved, and he really hoped that no one would become a traitor to them too soon.

It would happen anyway, but he begged that they would get time before that.They just needed to get away from this city.

He whispered it in his head, and he hoped, that no one would kill him, while he wasn't able to defend himself. Was he even able to do that at all anymore? He highly doubted it.

Slowly, his counsiousness left him bit by bit, until he fell asleep there on the dirty ground.

 

Margaery gasped and immediately started to cry desperately. She gripped the sheets of the bed that she recognized in exact that moment. It wasn't really comfortable, but she was happy about it, and her mind couldn't tell her what the fuck was going on.

She was in a bed and had pain that was unbearable.

The tears ran down her face, and her body cramped at every place. She couldn't do anything else than cramping and crying and having pain over an over.

"Loras," Margaery whispered quietly, looking around. "Loras, please!"  
Her voice suddenly was so massive and loud, and she didn't know how.  
What happened? Her mind took longer than the rest of her body. At least her nerves were perfectly working, and they let her feel exactly that.

Suddenly, a person came from the corner, and she tried to calm down, but her whole body fought against that try. It was Loras, and he had clothes in his hand, a black cloak hung over his shoulders, while he wore also dark clothes underneath, and it was kinda scary.

He looked better, friendlier, when he sat down next to her on the bed and took her hand. When Margaery felt his warm hand on hers, she immediately calmed down a bit. "It hurts so much. So much. Please, Loras."  
The Tyrell nodded and put down the clothes that he had in his hands.

She looked down at herself and saw that she was naked, and full of some kind of cream, mostly were all her burnings were.  
"W-Where am I?" Margaery asked panicking, but she didn't hyperventilate anymore, now that Loras was there.

Even if she was naked, in pain, crying and desperate, Loras was there for her. Quietly, he held her hand, waited, so that she could calm down.

After a few moments, he nodded thoughtfully. "You're in one of the people's home. They took you here after I brought you into their area. And don't wonder, they cared about our wounds, but especially for yours you needed to take off your clothes. You were uncounsious, so I did it. I hope it's okay. They threw away our old clothes and gave me the new ones. Look, the cloak is even blue. It's your favourite colour. I thought it would be a good idea," Loras explained and looked right into Margaerys eyes, still holding her hand.

"They'll cover us up, so that we can escape. And the cloaks are protection for us. We'll get out of King's Landing, I can promise you that, at least," he added then and wipped with his feet a bit. "How long have I been here?" she asked quietly and Loras lowered his head. "A few days. Maybe a week," he told her in a calm voice.

Margaery shook her head. "I'm scared. I never was before, at least not really," she muttered quietly. "I'm scared that I'll leave this room, and Cersei waited there, waited for stabbing me. And I'm so weak that I couldn't defend myself at all. She'll know, Loras. We're as dead as we could be," the Tyrell scoffed at herself. "I could've done so much more. All those people that died-"

"Are dead. They're okay, I think. I would've chosen death over this torture, but you won't give up. I won't let you die, after you did so many things for me," her brother interrupted suddenly and looked at her with an apologizing glance.

He still looked like the tortured soul that he became.

"I don't know why, but they're even helping me. Probably because I'm your brother. Look, we have chances. We just need a place where we could be safe. You said, that we should go north."  
Loras looked at Margaery with confusion and shook his head. "Why the north?"

Something in Margaery's eyes seemed to shine when her idea got into her mind again. It was like a glimpse of hope, at least Loras read that into it.

"Sansa," she babbled. "Sansa is there."

"We don't know if her brother won against the Bolton's. We can't know, and we won't get any messages about the result, because we're on an escape. Margaery, what if they lost?" Loras asked a bit direct, but also unsure. He didn't want Margaery to step from those psychos into the next psychos. At least they were psychos when he thought about that, what he has heard before.

"It doesn't matter if we die or live," the Tyrell girl says even more quiet.  
"But if there's any chance where we could be protected, then it's Winterfell. Sansa and I had some kind of a friendship, and she liked you aswell. Maybe she would persuade her brother to take us into their home," she went on, and it was easy to realize that Margaery really wished that all those words that she just said would come true.

"You need to get rest," Loras whispered, completely exhausted by this talk and it's direction.

"No, I can't. It's the pain," she protested and sat up, shielding her chest with the blanket.  
But she didn't seem to care much, she just froze under the blanket because the burnings took all her heat that she had in her body before, so she took it up with herself.

"Do they have more of that cream? We could take it with us on the journey, wherever we want to go."  
Loras shrugged a bit unsure and looked straight at one of the walls.

"We need to go soon," Margaery suddenly insisted, grabbing the clothes that Loras had brought her.  
"We already spent too much time here. Maybe I can let someone go to Tommen, telling at least him that we're alive, he may be worrying."

The look that Loras gave Margaery already told her, that something was wrong, and since she wasn't that dumb, she could combine everything.  
"He's not dead, is he?" she asked surprised and felt her fingers cramp. Sure, she had used him for her things, but he was a gentle, caring, and innocent boy. Yeah, a boy. He was so young, and so friendly.

Loras nodded, and she could see that even her brother was sad or upset about it. "H-How?" Margaery asked, shaking her head in disbelieve, and when the answer remained unspoken, she became more upset.

"How did he die?" she asked a bit more bluntly then before.

"Suicide," Loras said into the tense atmosphere that came from Margaery.  
"They say, he just let himself fall out of the window. It was not jumping, he didn't hesitate, he just let it happen. As if it was the only thing he wanted to do."

"S-Suicide," Margaery repeated stuttering, "He was so young... An innocent, friendly boy. This can't be true. Why did no one save him?"  
Loras closed his eyes and shook his head. He was upset about it, too. He never saw a suicide, and Tommen was still so young.  
"It went too fast," he said, at least he combined that out of the people's answers.

  
"He did it shortly after the sept was blown up, they say."  
"Because of me," the Tyrell woman realized. "Oh, that can't be true."  
"He loved you."  
"And he died. Everyone we ever cared for died, too."

Loras turned to her completely now, eyeing her with confusion.  
"What happened to you?" he asked after some silence, and she needed to hold back tears again, while she cracked a sad smile. "Almost dying seems to change people."

Her brother thought about that sentence, he could see that because of his eyes, staring into the lands far away, wherever those lands would be.

"You're still my sister and I won't let you down," he insisted, and Margaery frowned.  
It was, as if their personality changed completely, and it also felt like they got used to all those pain on their bodies.  
At least they pushed it into the background, ignoring it.

But the pain in Margaery's soul was a major one, too. She felt guilty for all those people who died, and she felt like she lost everything. Except Loras, of course.  
And then suddenly, there was that question. What if Sansa wouldn't be at Winterfell with her brother? What if that Ramsay dude would "welcome" them?

But she just went on with the sad smile. Margaery found herself not caring about what happened with her life. Maybe she just hoped to see Sansa again after such a long time where they didn't see each other.

Maybe she would even follow Tommen with suicide.

The young, friendly, innocent, gentle boy who let himself fall into the death.

And that was another thing Margaery felt guilty for.

Even if it was Cersei who started this, who blew up the sept, and killed her own son in a weird but clear way. Margaery wasn't the one who blew someone up that he loved. But she just couldn't bring herself into stop feeling guilty. Even if Loras held her hand, what he still did, she felt bad. Really bad.

And suddenly, the pain also hit her as if someone put a knife into every part of her body and let the knives stick there to let the victim painfully bleed to death.

But now Loras was trying to get her alive out of this, and he did a great job.

"Well," Margaery gave in quietly, unsure and still upset. "Even if I want to get that bitch Cersei at one day, could you help me with my clothes today? Only today."

Loras nodded, and when Margaery gripped the blue cloak to look at it from closer, she felt a little bit of comfort.

"Thank you for that colour, Loras."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> »She was kind, and gentle, at least when she had been with the Stark. Sometimes, she took her arm, and it felt comfortable, like some kind of safety. As if Margaery could protect her from the cruel King's Landing.«

Sansa looked at the piece of paper in her shaking hands.

When she saw the names Margaery and Loras, she immediately decided to read it in private.  
So, she now sat in her chambers and gulped unsure, not knowing if she actually wanted to.

First, she opened her mouth, ready to scream after Jon, wanting him to read it with her, since she was scared. But she quickly shut her mouth and told herself that it was only a letter, and that she wasn't a little girl anymore.

Sansa rather would put it away and go on with her life, but she already opened it and was looking at it. She only needed to read the words.  
She was scared, especially since she also saw the names Tommen and "Queen Cersei".

Now, that she thought about it, it actually explained everything.

If Cersei was queen, Tommen and Margaery had to be dead, but Sansa just hoped that something else happened. That they gave the Throne away, maybe.

 _Wait_ _, that couldn't be._  
Margaery would never give the Throne away, Sansa knew that. She was kind, and gentle, at least when she had been with the Stark. Sometimes, she took her arm, and it felt comfortable, like some kind of safety. As if Margaery could protect her from the cruel King's Landing.  
But as gentle as Margaery was, she would never give up the throne. Hell, she was ready to marry _Joffrey_ for it, but he died, and she could've called herself lucky.

But even if she got the more innocent of Cersei's boys, she died.  
Obviously, she died.  
But Sansa didn't want it to be true, she hoped, that this was a dumb lie, or just a nightmare.

But when she brought herself into looking at the paper, she saw her shaking hands, and she felt it. It was so real, so how could it be a dream?  
Besides, Sansa already stopped dreaming a long time ago.

She slowly tried to force herself into reading, but she couldn't. Margaery was a friend to her, the only one she had at that terrible place, besides Loras, who wasn't like a friend, but he was kind, and Tyrion, who never forced her into anything.

So how could she read about the fact, that two of those people died now?

They fell as victims of the game, even if at least Margaery was so good at it.

Sansa didn't understand it back then, but she changed, and that _maybe_ had something to do with some experiences she made.

She hoped that no one would come in, because that was her burden now. No one would understand the pain she felt.

Pain wasn't the right word, more like, anger.  
Cersei was queen now, and somehow, Margaery, Loras and even Tommen died. It made her angry, that all those things happened, and she was pretty sure, that they died from other's hands.

Sansa took a deep breath, so she could get herself into reading that letter, and finally, she did it.

It was exactly what she expected. The words definitely were Cersei's, and they told her, that Queen Margaery and her brother Loras Tyrell got blown up together with the Great Sept of Baelor, and that King Tommen killed himself right after that happened.  
Sansa shook her head with shock, disbelieve and actual sadness.  
If Cersei really wrote that, why would she sound so uninterested in Tommen's death?

And reading that both Tyrell's died in the explosion of the sept made her even more upset.  
Tears found their ways into her eyes, and her sight blurred, what was the sign that she was crying to herself.  
Margaery and Loras had a warm heart, and she will always remember them, she knew.

And Sansa also knew that it only could be Cersei who killed them, deep down, buried underneath her sadness.

She never thought that she would be so sad about the Tyrell's, but she were there now, whiping away those tears that were running down her cheek now.  
If she read it right, it was wildfire that blew up the sept and them, so there most likely wasn't any chance that they survived.

Sansa wished that she could've had some time before leaving King's Landing, back then. She wanted to take the rose that Margaery gave her with her, but it all went too fast.  
Though she still remembered the rose perfectly.  
And if someone would show a similiar rose to her, she most likely was going to cry.  
Margaery was so friendly and welcoming to her, and she missed that.

Sure, Sansa felt home in the north, it was _their home_ , but with Margaery, she felt even more comfortable. She had hoped that they would see each other again once, since they finally had the north back, but now both were dead, and Tommen, too.  
And Cersei sat on the throne.

"This is messed up," Sansa whispered to herself, getting her sadness under control.  
Angry as she was, she ripped the letter into little pieces and let them fall into the little fire that she had there, warming her up.  
The flame built itself up for a moment, and Sansa didn't flinch a bit.  
But then, she saw something in the flames, two people walking.  
Sansa blinked, and it was gone.  
"Wha-", she started, but gave up and turned around, a shocked look on her face.

So, there were two options:  
One, the gods wanted to tell her something.  
Two, she was driving insane.

The second thing did fit better in Sansa's mind, especially since she only saw it for a few little moments, nothing else.

A knock on her door scared her out of her daydreams, and it had her realize that she had to _tell_ Jon, instead of just showing him that filthy letter, that was burning into ashes by now.

Sansa went to the door and shook her head about herself. Why did she do that again? Ah, right, she couldn't control her anger and sadness.

When she opened the door and saw Jon there, she immediately gulped.  
Sure, Jon saw that she went away with the letter, hiding it from the others, and he also saw her shocked glare while she opened it the first time, before this.

"Hey, Sansa," he greeted her, and she immediately let him in.  
"Is something wrong?" Jon asked worrying, while Sansa closed the door again.  
"I just burned my problem," she said, and just realized the irony.  
"The way Margaery and Loras burned to death in a few seconds while being blown up together with the Great Sept of Baelor," Sansa added, and sighed at the surprised look from Jon. He wanted to say something, but she shook her head. "I'm not done yet," she meant and sat down on her bed, still looking into Jon's eyes.

"Tommen then killed himself and Cersei now sits on the throne and is the queen of Westeros, isn't that great?" Sansa asked ironically and shook her head while she wipped around with her feet.

"Is there... no single chance that they could've survived?" she asked hopefully, but Jon shook his head. "It doesn't sound like that. Margaery was your friend, or what?" he asked back and sat down next to her.  
"She was always kind and helpful. And Loras was, too. Tommen was innocent. They're all dead. I don't actually even know how I could survive there so long."

Jon sighed and closed his eyes, frowning.  
"Margaery and Loras were blown up, you said. They don't actually knew that they'll die. At least not early enough. How actually? Everyone would die when someone blows you up," he meant and nodded slightly.  
"You'll remember them. You'll remember the Tyrell's. Because now, their house will be extinct when Olenna dies, but you know how they were," Jon told Sansa and sadly glared at her.

This was the first time Sansa actually thought about the extinction of house Tyrell. But it was true, since Margaery and Loras, and they would've kept the line going, but now, they aren't able to do that anymore.

 _May they rest in piece,_ Sansa thought, hoping that she could end those conversation and her thoughts about that topic with this sentence, but Margaery's face was still ghosting around in her head.  
And apparently, she's taken control.

Sansa suddenly remembered the persons in the flames that she saw before Jon came in. She tried to reflect their appearance, but the only thing she could remember where the cloaks. One black, and one blue.  
Also, the voices, quietly and far, far away.  
A woman and a man, Sansa was sure.

"Hey, Sansa, are you alright?" Jon asked suddenly, and the Stark nodded unsure, not knowing if she could call her status "alright".

She blinked and frowned.  
"My mind is playing games," the red-haired answered quietly, wondering if she should tell Jon.  
It didn't take her long to decide, though.  
"I saw two people walking, and they were covered in a cloak, one person had a black one, the other a blue one. They talked, and it was familiar. A woman and a man. I think it could be them, but it's just something you shouldn't worry about."

Jon didn't exactly worry, he just seemed to be surprised.  
"Where did you see it?" he asked curiously and looked at Sansa, waiting almost a bit impatient.  
"In the flames, when I burned the letter," she told him truthfully, and Jon's eyes widened.  
When Sansa saw that, she frowned.

"You don't believe that, do you?"  
"I do, actually. You-"  
"That's ridiculous, Jon. They're dead, and my mind is playing with my sadness, showing me what could be but what most likely isn't going to happen. We should talk about-"

Jon stood up, so Sansa stopped talking and looked at him with confusion.  
He slowly walked to the fire and bit his lip thoughtfully.

"I was resurrected," he told her openly, "The Red Woman did that. And she talked, and talked, but also about flames. This isn't something normal when you see something in that fire."

Jon leaned in and looked closely, making Sansa getting up interested.  
"Why do you think that they're Margaery and Loras?" he asked quietly, but Sansa understood him very well.

Sansa still made a weird face at that question. "I saw them after I've read and burned the letter, but only for one moment."  
She looked down to Jon, who was kneeling in front of the fire.

"Watch out," Sansa told him with an alarmed voice, but Jon turned around to her and smiled slightly at her face.  
She muttered something unclear and leaned down next to him.  
"So, do you see them, too?" she asked excited, but all that excitement was gone when Jon got up again.  
"Seems like it's only for you."

Her heart raced, but she didn't know why. She wrote it down as a hallucination in her head, but now...  
It should've made that theory stronger, but something was telling her, that she shouldn't write it down right there.  
Maybe it was true, and they just walked there. The environment looked like a city, but now that Cersei's on the throne, she'd want the Tyrell's dead, and they shouldn't be in cities.

But it could be so different, and Sansa frowned at herself.  
"Alright, so you think, that I get a message with that?" she asked out of the sudden, sighing.  
"I know that you do."  
  
She laughed quietly.  
"Whatever."  
Jon nodded, but still looked at her.  
"You liked Margaery," he meant, and Sansa chuckled. "Everyone did."  
"Yes, but you liked her in a special way," Jon told the Stark, who now was a bit exhausted.  
"Uh?"  
Jon waved the question away and sighed. "I'll do the annoying, boring things now."  
"Yeah," Sansa told after him and closed her tired eyes.  
When Jon was out of the room, her glare landed on that fire again.

She meant to hear voices, but there weren't any actually real voices. Sansa still let her eyes closed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> »But now, Cersei was the queen, and Margaery was nothing more and nothing less than a dead Tyrell.«

Margaery flinched.

It was so loud. So many people who could see, recognize and kill them with telling everyone that they're still alive.  
Then they wouldn't be alive for long anymore.

Loras walked next to her, and she wanted to take his hand desperately, searching at least some protection.  
But the pain took avantage of her, and he didn't want to move anything else than her legs right now, the burnings hurting against her clothes.

The cloak lasted heavily on her shoulders, while she hid underneath the hood, like her brother.

Some people stared at them with confusion, but it wasn't that weird to have two persons in cloaks, walking through King's Landing.  
They wanted to be out of there so much, leaving this horror behind.

 _The people aren't the worst,_ Margaery knew. _It's Cersei. Cersei is the worst._

The Tyrell snorted quietly, causing her brother to look at her. "Are you alright?" he asked, and she cracked a smile that he could still see, but not really good.

"Yes," she said, "if you exclude my burnings, of course. I just want to be free."

But King's Landing was big, and they had to avoid the bigger ways, where the guards stood. They already walked around for thirty minutes, and for them, it felt like running around in circles.

"Why is King's Landing so big?" Margaery asked quietly, coming closer to her brother.  
"We'll get out, I promised you."

"But where? Look around you, we weren't even close to a chance for escaping, and we're running around for ages."

The Tyrell's looked at each other, ignoring the confused people behind, before and beneath them. They couldn't hear what they were discussing, but they were _discussing._

Loras sighed quietly.  
"You know, we can also give up. Show everyone who we are, and we'll be killed by Cersei, then, just as same as it was planned. If you want that more, I won't care. My life ended already, but yours? You wanted to see Sansa, you protected me, wanted me to live. But do _you_ still want to live?  
I won't do anything you don't want, but if we want to go into the north, you need to trust me. I know the way."

Margaery's throat seemed to be dried out from one to the other moment, and she shook her head.

Hearing Loras say this was so weird, so unrealistic. She remembered all those past times where he wasn't caring about any problems. She was looking back to that one year where he had a healthy relationship with Renly. They really loved and cared for each other.

Loras was so happy, until Renly was killed.

He then lost a big part of his happiness, but tried to build up again in King's Landing.

And now, after all those torture he was through, he lost everything.

And Margaery did, too.

She didn't know how empty she felt until that moment, but now, she was putting an arm around her stomach.  
Her inner self was dead, her inner hope, too.

 _We shouldn't have escaped_ , the Tyrell girl thought, _but now we have._ _And_ _we're alone in this world. Is it worth a fight for our lives?_

Loras and Margaery both stopped walking, staring at each other.

"Do you think we can start again when we're in the north?" she asked her brother, loosing all her hope.  
"Maybe we can, if we're able to leave or anxieties and pain behind. If they protect us, maybe we actually can. But the chance that we arrive without being found and killed is really small."

Margaery nodded and stared to the ground, flinching again because a wave of pain suddenly hit her.

They stood there for some time, trying to get an answer. Both wanted to give up, but something in Margaery told her that Sansa would help them to start again, and that kept her away from giving up.

"I can't give up right now," she said, shaking her head. "I want to, it's so exhausting to _live,_ but... Something is telling me that it's worth a try. We have some food for the first few days because they gave it to us, and we have cloaks to hide. And you say that you know the way, s-so... why not? We can die later, too," Margaery meant a bit unsure, what made her shook her head.

Unsure wasn't something she's been before their almost-deaths.

They noticed the tension that was between all those people. They were whispering, and sometimes Margaery could understand something about the sept and the Queen's or the King's death. She smiled sadly, wanting to calm those people down, saying that the queen lives, and she has her knight by her side.

But now, Cersei was the queen, and Margaery was nothing more and nothing less than a dead Tyrell.

She bit her lip, wanting to het away from this sad image, also, wanting to get away from the new queen.  
"Let's go," Margaery said, "We wasted enough time."

||||||||||||||

Loras did know where he went, and Margaery wasn't so concerned anymore.

And the concern vanished completely when she saw a gate further away.  
"We're almost free," she sighed, tears of relief finding their way out of her eyes, but her brother couldn't see.

"There are guards, Margaery."

And everything, every relief, was destroyed again.  
"Shit," she cursed openly, making Loras frown.

"Can you fight?" she asked and gulped when they had to stop again.  
Loras looked at her with confusion in his eyes.  
"They won't let us go through when we look like this, and if they see who we are, we're screwed. _Can you fight?"_  
The Tyrell lowered his head and he didn't even need to shake his head then, Margaery knew the answer.

She picked up a stone or whatever it was, maybe even a piece of the broken sept. Many building were broken from the explosion, even if it wasn't much, everywhere was lying something to throw.

She lowered herself on her knees, forcing a full-of-pain-noise out of her throat. She hid behind this little wall, and Loras came down to her, too.  
"We distract them, and then, we run. As fast as we can," Margaery told him, trying to target one of the two guards perfectly.

"And you think that this works?" her brother asked confused, but he still picked up a stone.

"I hope it does," the other Tyrell answered with a little smile. "I'd do anything to get out of here, now that we came so far. We just need to get them away. Look, there are only a few other people."

Loras shrugged and watched his sister trying to do something she never actually did before.

 _Wait_ _, no_ , Loras thought and remembered how much she liked to threw stones at him when they were little. She was pretty good at it, but at some time, when she had to learn other things, she stopped throwing stones.

"Do you remember those times when you always threw stones at others? You were perfect," he whispered at her in that moment, getting a little smile as result. "Yeah, those times," she said thoughtfully, but after some time, she concentrated.

It was slowly getting darker because it was already sunset, and Loras frowned when he noticed something.

Margaery just wanted to throw, when he gently took her arm into his hand.

"We need to wait for the night.  
Then the people will be in their homes and we, are more invisible than now."

||||||||

Loras was right.

Especially he seemed invisible in the darkness of the night, since his clothes and his cloak were black. Margaery was easier to see with her blue cloak, so they decided, that one of them should stay right there, and the other one should go closer, so that the guards would get confused because the stones come from several places.

Loras stood up slowly, keeping the guards in his eyes, while he transported the stones he needed in his hand.

The guards had their torches, but Margaery's and Loras' had their eyes, and those were used to the dark since they watched how it went dark.

They had a plan, a pretty good one, actually.  
First, they needed to take the guard's ability to see into the dark.  
Meant, they needed to destroy their torches, their light.

While Loras sat down behind a bigger wall, which was the reason why targeting took him a bit longer afterwards, he was still thinking.  
And when he just wanted to start targeting a torch...

A loud crack went through the night, the torch, that was broken into two halfs, fell into a little puddle and the fire vanished immediately.

Sure, that made both men nervous, they started shouting, but Margaery soon threw the next stone, and sadly missed the other torch, because the man was moving.

 _It's my turn,_ Loras thought and took a deep breath, resulting in throwing the stone directly at the torch.  
He missed it, but the stone hit the guard against the head, causing him to fall onto the ground with a growl, full of pain.

Loras hissed. That wasn't what he intended. They actually wanted to get away without hurting anyone.

At least, the torch fell right into the mud, and it was completely dark.

Not for the Tyrells, though. They still saw what they needed to see.  
Loras stood up again, pressing his body against the wall, slowly walking past the corner, hiding in the shadows, while the guard tried to see something in the dark.

Loras slowly walked to the stick from the torch, while the other man walked towards Margaery, what gave the Tyrell a racing heart.

He picked the stick up, sneaking behind the guard, and he hold the weapon up. Margaery looked at her brother, actually scared, but then he slammed the other man to the ground with strong hands and this stick.

The once-it-was-a-torch broke into two halfs and fell onto the man that was also on the ground.  
"Come," he hissed towards Margaery.  
"We need to be fast now. They'll check soon, and when they see this... Forget it, take my hand."

Margaery nodded, stood up and took the offered hand. Warmth started to spread in her body from Loras' hand, and her little shaking because of the cold night stopped.

King's Landing really wasn't a cold region, but her body threw away all her body heat, and nights are always cold, at least more cold than during the days.

Loras walked fast, even if he was paying attention to his sister. He was right, Margaery knew that. It was just her body that hurt _so bad._

The closer they came to the gate, the more relief came into the Tyrell's heart, and it was racing all the time. She smiled, and she became faster, causing Loras to become faster, too.

And so, they ran right through the open gate that should've been watched.  
They only left King's Landing, but Margaery already felt free. Really free.

She ignored the fact that they had to walk into the north, they needed to hide for survival.  
They were the survivors of King's Landing, and survivors of the wildfire.

And the Tyrells were the only ones.  
Not even the king survived them.  
And Margaery hoped that Cersei won't survive them.

When they ran away a bit more from the gate, and ran, ran, ran, until there were a few bushes and trees where they could perfectly hide.

Tears of joy and relief fought their way out of Margaerys eyes, especially when Loras started to hug her tightly.  
"We're free," he said, "We survived."

They were naive, of course.

Loras was Margaery's hope, and Margaery was Loras' life. They only had each other, and now, they need to get someone they can pull into their team.

Margaery sobbed quietly, not daring to make loud sounds.

She returned the tight hug, enjoying this moment of peace and freedom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm pretty sick, and my head is a bit blurred... But that means that I'll stay home and there'll be more chapters :D


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> »The way a dream and a scream can change all of their motivations and thoughts.«

She dreamed of Sansa and the north. Even if that what she imagined about the north was blurred, Sansa was pretty clear.

Maybe she shouldn't focus too much on that image, since Sansa most likely went through some changes, but it held her motivation up.

And so the Stark stood there, her beautiful red and slightly blown around hair, made in the same way that Margaery had used, but Margaery herself stood there the way she was right now. And even naked, showing Sansa all her burnings, and her usually own beautiful hair was destroyed and too short.

The burnings destroyed Margaery's soft skin and made it gross, especially when she looked at the water right next to them.

They were so close, but Sansa had her back turned to Margaery, and even if it felt weird, she was naked, too. But her usually perfect looking skin had pretty serious bruises, what scared the Tyrell. Still, the Stark looked way more beautiful.

And she soon realized that this was her mind, telling her that she was ugly now. Margaery never had those thoughts, except when she was around her sister.

But looking like that... she felt really ugly.

Still, she asked herself if there was something else behind this dream, and she used her fingers to tip on Sansa's left shoulder, carefully and confused.

She felt cold, and naked, _really_ naked.

But the red-haired turned around, almost so slowly, that it was creepy again.

And suddenly, she reached out for Margaery's naked, exposed body, and when the Tyrell looked into the Stark's eyes, she saw that they were red from tears that were all over her face, too.

Margaery tried to scream, but no noise left her mouth, and she couldn't really bring herself to do it, too.

Sansa gripped her shoulders and leaned forward to hug her, while their bodies were touching in that weird skin-to-skin way, and Margaery began to shake as response to the fact that they stood there, naked, but hugging.

"Come to me," Sansa whispered into her left ear with some kind of seduction in her voice, and her breaths became more controlled with every breath she took, while Margaery seemed to loose her control. So, the red haired knew, that she wasn't really there?   
_What_ _is this?,_ the Tyrell asked herself, but she hugged Sansa back, and needed to calm down her racing heart as well as the tears of joy in her eyes.

The hug was so desperate, but still gentle, and Margaery wondered about her burnings. They didn't hurt anymore, but they were still there. Would this mean that they are or will be scars?

When she leaned back out of the hug, her eyes had their natural shine, while the tears and the redness were gone. Her glare was a bit colder than before, but it was Sansa's, and her cheeks were a bit red.

The other girl decided to forget all those thoughts to enjoy the moment with Sansa. Who knew how long she was able to feel like this? Right, no one.

Still, some different questions crossed her mind.

Margaery gulped and looked away. First, they were still naked, second, Sansa just changed her appearance out of nowhere, just by holding Margaery close, and third, why was she blushing at all? She hasn't been before, and nothing really changed.

But, the most important question through the whole dream, _where the fuck are their clothes?_

Even if she started to stop caring bit for bit, she wanted to know where they were and why they weren't there.

Margaery couldn't pretend that she did hold back her want to look at Sansa's body again, so she just took a look. She looked for the younger girl's bruises, but they seemed to be gone, what confused her.

And when Margaery looked down at herself, she realized, that her scars, bruises, burned skin and destroyed hair will never fade away, and she felt uncomfortable just by that, standing there naked was only an addition. Like she said, being naked wasn't the thing she was caring about anymore. It was her appearance.

"Sansa-"

"I missed you," the girl said, interrupting Margaery suddenly, and she realized that the warmth in her chest came from the knowledge that Sansa still liked her, even with her burnings and all that stuff.

Still, she wasn't sure. And that feeling sucked.

"R-Really?" the Tyrell girl asked quietly, really unsure, even if she knew that this was a dream, and she knew that it shouldn't mean so much to her. This wasn't reality. Sansa is most likely going to react different.   
Sansa nodded, and their nudity didn't seem to bother her.

Well, it bothered Margaery even more, since her mind started to show her images that were... _rather_ _distracting_ _._

"So, uh... do you know where our clothes are?"

After that question, Sansa raised an eyebrow and couldn't hold back a bit laughing. "We're wearing them."

Margaery felt how her stomach twisted, and her eyes started burning because of tears. Sansa didn't see how ugly the Tyrell's body became. She was happy to see her, but she didn't see the ugliness.

When Margaery now looked at herself and at Sansa, she even saw their clothes. She herself was completely hidden in her cloak, even her burned hair was really hard to see.

And slowly, she realized what the dream wanted to show her, and her stomach hurt from all of this. It couldn't be, right? Right.

"I think my mind froze," Margaery laughed awkwardly so that she doesn't have to share her truth about seeing it that way, and Sansa shook her head. "That doesn't matter. Will you come for me?" the younger girl asked and took a few steps away.

"I'll be waiting."

Margaery blinked the tears away. She should be happy that Sansa is actually happy to see her. Even if she had to hide her ugliness, then.

"And I'm on my way."

That was a promise to Sansa, even if the real one didn't know it, and probably wouldn't hear about it really soon.

Margaery just had to make promises so that living still makes sense. And this was one was one of those promises.

She hoped that this would hold up her motivations, that she wouldn't give up. Loras wasn't able to get her through this alone, she needed to help herself.

Loras needed help, too. But here, they couldn't find any help. Only themselves.

Margaery closed her eyes, felt how she faded away until she opened her eyes again.

And there was the pain again. Especially in her neck and her back, but the rest hurt, too. Sure, it wouldn't heal after one sleep that wasn't even one night long.

Margaery gasped full of pain and with tears in her eyes. They still were behind the bushes and trees where they chose to hide when they ran out of King's Landing, and Loras insisted in sleeping on the ground, while Margaery found her sleep leaning against a tree.

Now, she regretted that she didn't listen to her brother. The tree was so uncomfortable, that her neck felt as if it was stabbed, and her back burned more than before.

"Fucking hell," Margaery cursed quietly so that not even Loras could hear her.

Well, he couldn't hear her at all, since he still was sleeping.

Margaery smiled slightly, but that smile didn't last long.

She realized why she did wake up at all.

Loud voices came from the direction where they knocked those guards out.   
They shouted after the one who did this, at least they threatened with death to the one, and that they'll find them.

Margaery knew that they couldn't look through those bushes, but her heart began to race, and she had to keep a hand on her mouth to avoid screaming in panic.

 _And_ _Loras was still sleeping._

If they had found them, she would've had to wake him up or get this managed by herself. But to her luck, they didn't even look in their direction.

When she was sure that she didn't hear them anymore, she tried to get forward, what ended in a little (actually, big) cry, because she stumbled over something and landed on her back.

Loras quickly opened his eyes, rushed forward and looked after his sister, and when he saw her in pain, he crawled towards her.   
"What happened?" he asked quickly and took her hand. "What did you do?"

"I'm okay," the Tyrell girl pressed out of her throat, "I just stumbled over something and fell on my back."

Loras seemed to be away with his thoughts first, but then stood up, taking his sister in his arms to carry her.

"Hey, I _can_ walk," Margaery protested and rolled her eyes.   
"Shhh," he hissed and it took her even more time to hear the steps that seemed to came closer.   
Sure, her scream. Her scream reached the guards.   
_Shit,_ Margaery thought, panicking.   
"Play dead," Loras added even more quiet and pulled down his and her hood.

Margaery almost giggled nervously about that, but this really wasn't the time for giggling, so she kept it down.

 _Playing dead._ _Come_ _on, you can do this,_ she tried motivating herself, and right after that, she let her limps slack. Her lips where a bit apart from each other, since she was screaming while "dying", and her eyes were closed, but really gentle. Margaery tried to hold her breath as good as she could, and when she breathed, she only took very little breaths that were almost impossible to see under all that thick clothes.

 _If you_ _hadn't_ _screamed, you wouldn't be in that situation now,_ Margaery told herself, and she felt the panic rising, when the guard started to "speak".

"Hey, you!" he shouted loudly, and she really was close to flinching. But every mistake could cost their freedom, and most likely, their lives, too.

But Margaery recognized that guard, and she knew, that he was a coward. How did they have so much luck? It's almost ridiculous.

"Leave, or you'll experience the same fate like her," Loras growled, and his voice was so deep and scary, that she wondered if this was her brother who talked.

He turned around painfully slow and showed the guard her pretty good image of a lifeless body.

Margaery heard the shocked gasp, and felt complimented, but also, she couldn't help being afraid of Loras herself.

"I-" the guard tried, but he stopped, and suddenly, the Tyrell could hear fast steps, escaping from them.

Loras laughed quietly and Margaery took a really deep breath, putting her arm around Loras' shoulder to get up.   
"Good, my head did hurt already."

The Tyrell boy smiled slightly and looked around for a last time, before he pulled his hood up a bit.   
"That dude stays away," he said surprisingly cheerful.   
Margaery nodded and laughed, too.

They felt so much relief and motivation. As if they were sure (for once) that they would reach the north alive. They both had the acting in themselves. They can get away together.

Margaery leaned against Loras' chest and closed her eyes. He brought her behind a big rock to put her down there.

"Wait here, I'll go and bring our foods and all that to this place so that we can continue going north," Loras said, still smiling.

While he was away, Margaery thought about the situation that they just got through, and she couldn't stop laughing crazy this time.

_This is the way a dream and a scream can change all of their motivations and thoughts._

When Loras was back with food and everything, Margaery still smiled, slightly dreaming.   
Her brother tapped at her shoulder.   
They haven't been so happy, relieved and motivated for a long time.

If they can trick those guard, they could trick others too.

It was naive, sure. This guard was a coward, but however, he was still a guard. But they needed to have something to hold on, something that could mean their survival.

And their acting was _something._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooof, I feel like it took me way too long for such a shitty chapter. I'm sorry.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> »Margaery closed her eyes, but she couldn't sleep, too. The nightmares were seeking and reaching after her with ice-cold fingers.«

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oH goD 
> 
> I'm so sorry! 
> 
> Somehow writing was difficult recently, and I have to finish a project, which is pretty much to write, until December. Anyways, here you have a new chapter. :3

"Loras," she said, tired of the pain. "Loras, we need horses. We can't _walk_ the whole way."

When the Tyrell man heard what his sister said, he shook his head, even if he wished to be on a horse. Their feet hurt, since they were walking two days straight now, and only sometimes they stopped to eat or get rest a little bit, since they both were pretty weak. And their walking was slow, painful, and not really effective.

Still, they didn't want to rest long. At least Margaery would always get themselves up again, saying that they could and will get rest at Winterfell, too.

"We can't steal, Margaery," he said all of the sudden, breathing heavily, his breath forming a little cloud in the cold.

It was early in the morning, the sun was sending it's first shines to the world now, while the moon could still be seen, and it was unusually cold when the day would come, but wasn't there yet.

King's Landing usually wasn't a cold region, not at all. But Margaery's burnings still didn't heal, and they also still took the body wamth that she needed. So, the little, but ice-cold wind blow that played with their cloaks and their hoods a moment, made her shiver pretty hard.

She lowered her head, shaking, looking at her arms. No one could see her goosebumps, but they were there.  
_How do I survive the north, then?,_ Margaery asked herself with a little smirk that vanished immediately when Loras cleared his throat.

Or coughed. She didn't know, and the thought of him coughing made her shiver in fear.

If he would get sick now, it could mean their end.

Margaery teared up without knowing it, even if she felt her eyes burning. She didn't want Loras to be sick at all. They aren't going to get much help or medicine - and they had to get forward. What if the guard actually realized that it was them afterwards? Or one of the folk decided to tell Cersei?

Margaery brought herself into looking up again, her glare wandering towards Loras.

The way he stared at her made her sure which option it was.

Loras just wanted to get her attention, and she reacted completely crazy.

 _How anxious I am,_ Margaery thought almost a bit disappointed of herself, feeling numb inside. Her body still felt so weak, and panic made it weaker. She knew that her counsiousness faded a bit, but her feet still moved forwards, now while she herself was looking at Loras.

"You think that I'll get sick?" he asked suddenly, and Margaery couldn't help but started to sob quietly. "I'm just- I'm so scared," she muttered, wiping her upcoming tears away.

"Cersei wanted to blow us up. Cersei blew up a big part of King's Landing. She stepped over corpses, even over her son's, just to kill us. Don't you think she'll do it again? Loras, I'm so scared, and when I turn around, I see them coming. Coming for us. Coming to present us to an even more cruel death."

She shivered badly, and that wasn't because of the cold air anymore. No, it actually was getting warm.

Margaery was anxious, and her body weakened with every second. Her cheeks were reddened, so that Loras put his hand on one of them, realizing that they are way too hot.

"Marg, you should get some rest. Your wounds aren't good for you body - we have to get help at Hayford, when we arrive," Loras insisted, and he knew that Margaery would protest against that.

"No rest," she said, sounding desperate, and she _was_ desperate. "No, no, no..."

And suddenly, Margaery collapsed, gasping, tired, mentally fading away. Loras was prepared for this and catched her, but sank to the ground with her.

He held her in his arms, pressing her closer to his chest and hummed something, a melody they never heard before, but a melody that he invented out of nowhere to help her calm down.

"It hurts so much," she said, gasping, tearing up completely. "Loras-"  
"Shhh," he meant suddenly, and put her into his lap more comfortable.

Loras looked at her, caring and loving, she could see that. Margaery started to cry more, and she hugged his body carefully, because she knew, that he also had some burnings.

"I'm here for you," Loras hummed, closing his eyes for a moment. But then, he quickly opened them again, taking a deep breath, calming himself. He always had flashbacks when he closed his eyes - and when he slept, he didn't actually sleep. He tried, and kind of played his body.

Those flashbacks make him tear up and panic all the time, too. And he was sure that Margaery had to hear his heartbeat going faster in that moment.

Loras gulped down his anxiety to help Margaery with her's - and it worked kinda.

"Loras?" she asked, quietly, while he himself got shocked by the fact that Margaery's bodyheat was too hot, even if she obviously was freezing.

He looked up to see the sun rising even higher, and got the shine to his face, shortly welcoming it.

The night was something they both feared even more - they maybe will learn to see better at night, but it'll always be less than what they see at daylight.

"Yes?" he asked then, reminding himself that his sister whispered his name.  
"I catched a fever, didn't I?" Margaery spoke out, and then started sobbing again.

"We can't know yet. Calm down, Margaery. Sleep, or something. I'll get us to Hayford."

She looked up to him in confusion, wondering what he meant, but again, Loras took her into his arms, carrying her when he stood up.

Margaery closed her eyes, but she couldn't sleep, too. The nightmares were seeking and reaching after her with ice-cold fingers.

She opened them again and saw how Loras pushed the bag with their food and the cream for their wounds, that they still had, to his back with his elbow, so that she had more space.

Margaery just stared at the road they followed, even if they held themselves hidden a bit away in the bushes. She felt warm and cold at once, and her sight was spinning.

But suddenly, they were going to the right, deeper into the bushes, and she gasped, but couldn't say something, because she knew what he wanted to do.

"We're close to water. I'll put you down there and you try to care about your wounds by yourself, alright? If you can't get it done, call me. I know it's not that... comfortable when your brother needs to care about your wounds all over your body," Loras told and asked her then, and she just nodded.

Margaery actually had no problem with Loras helping her with that stuff. She actually knew that he wanted her to take care of the wounds every day - but he kinda knew already that she didn't do anything like that, because it would cost time.

Time they needed.

But Loras also knew that she was febrile because of the slowly infecting burns. That's what the people who helped them said - if they both, while Loras' wounds weren't so dangerous, don't take care of it, it'll infect and maybe even kill them.

He couldn't let Margaery die. He would die with her because she was the only thing that convinced him to stay at all.

His forehead twitched in pain at the place where they had started to cut, before Margaery intervened and saved him. About that wound, they said the same. And he was caring about it - but that was something else than Margaery's wounds, because they we're all over her body.

She felt stronger in her brother's arms and her panic slowly stopped making her suffer so much. In result, Margaery became even more tired, but she could breathe better.

Loras brought her closer to the water, and she stared at it with some kind of a death-glare. "Will I die?" she asked fitting to Loras' thought before that.

He almost choked on his air, hearing that question out loud. He opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything. Why was it so difficult to tell her that the burnings could infect and kill her if she didn't use the cream?

Probably because he didn't wanted to tell her, and through that, himself it was possible that their escape was pointless because they, or at least Margaery, would die on the way north.

Margaery looked up to him, and her glare wasn't saying anything. She just stared at him, and even didn't stop when he put her down on the ground because they arrived at the water.

"You'll die if you don't take care of your wounds. I know that you want to save time, but if you die, it was all for nothing."

Loras sighed and put out the cream to give it to Margaery, who still stared, but now at the water. "Alright," she said, lowering her head. "I'll call you if I can't do this alone."

The Tyrell boy nodded satisfied and turned around to stay behind some bushes that seperate him from his sister then.

When the cloak and her other clothes were off, she hesitated, staring at the water from her point. If she went there, she would see her reflection - and even if that would help a lot while taking care, Margaery wasn't convinced to do this.

She looked up at the sun, and somehow, they lost so much time that she stopped rising.

Hardly swallowing, she stepped to the water, naked. But suddenly, the wind was comfortable and warm against her skin, it even made her sigh relieved.

That relief stucked in her throat when she saw at the reflection, staring down to the water. 

Margaery never had been more disgusted of something than her own body before.

She stared at the burned skin, making disgusting waves and red places all over her body. And then, she saw her hair, destroyed and burned down a bit, looking ugly. But the most surprising was the fact that she was so thin - after a few days of walking and eating less.

Margaery put a hand on her stomach and flinched in pain, but then looked at the weird picture. Her hand was still shivering, and overall, she looked really bad.

The Tyrell girl almost broke down, crying, but there wasn't time, she knew. But it haunted her, how the fire changed her appearance in such a little time.

Margaery coughed again and frowned, starting to put the cream on her body, part for part, never stopping to stare at her naked body.

She'd always been happy with her body before. She had been confident, and knew that she was showing that, too. But now? Margaery didn't even look confident anymore. She looked like a girl that was tortured for years, but her real torture only was a few days long, yet.

It felt like years.

Margaery bit her lip and tried to finish her work faster, so that Loras wouldn't start to worry about her.

And when she managed that, she quickly put her clothed and the cloak on, again. It was her luck that the cream pretty much stayed where she put it - at least it helped. With a yawn of exhaust, she searched after Loras, but prefered staying quiet for their safety.

That meant, it took Margary a bit to find her brother, worrying and waiting for her. When he saw her, looking exhausted, tired and sad, or even disappointed, he muttered something not understandable and sighed.

"Let's go, then. I can carry you-"  
"You've done enough for me, Loras," Margaery interrupted, putting the cream into his hands again, starting to walk again, even if it almost took her breath. She was still so tired, but there was no sleep for her, not with all the nightmares seeking her.

That was something Loras didn't like to hear.  
"Done enough? You-"

But before he could end his sentence, they heard dogs barking in the background.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> »And then she nodded again and opened her eyes to finally look at her brother, worry in her eyes and he knew what would come, he just knew.«

"Shit," Margaery exclaimed, every little bit of the feel of being tired vanishing to make space for naked fear.

"This can't be. They have to be here for someone else," Loras added, but he pulled Margaery behind the bushes and took her down on the floor.   
"Why are we hiding, then?" she asked and the other Tyrell gulped hard. Right, why did they hide, when he was so sure that those dogs weren't focused on finding them?

Because he wasn't sure _at all._ Loras closed his eyes and tried to think of some way out. Maybe they had to pull an act again, but actually, he was sure, that they could do it.

"Just a precaution," he meant and opened his eyes. "Look, if they see us, we need to think of an idea to get them away."

"A precaution? Seems like you aren't sure at all..."  
"Yes, you're right. I'm not. I just wanted to keep us both a bit hopeful and calm, so that we won't fuck up everything to begin with," Loras confessed and looked at his sister as if he looked for a judging glare in her eyes, but she was smiling. Just smiling, her eyes almost empty with a bit of warmth in them, and Loras just couldn't understand why she was smiling anymore. They had no reason to do it now, no reason to be happy at all. But she wasn't happy. Why would she smile?

Loras stared at her, trying to figure his sister out. But he couldn't, he was able to understand humans once just by looking at them, or more like, looking through them, but not after all he's been through. Everything that made him feel smart and privileged was taken while he was imprisoned by the faith militants.   
"We'll do this," Margaery whispered to him, putting her hands at his shoulders, the smile still there. "We'll just... just..."

She stopped herself from saying the rest of the sentence and quickly took a tree limb from the ground into her left hand, the one with the stronger arm. The right arm was weirdly weak compared to the left, whatever caused it, it made her just use the left by now.   
"Margaery, think about what you're doing or whatever you actually want to do," Loras said paranoid, grabbing her wrist fiercly as she made a move that looked like standing up with the limb in her hand. He stared into her eyes angrily, trying to force her into staying where she was with him.

"Trust me, Loras. We can't fool _dogs_ _._ They'll still figure out that we are who we are. And if they're focused on us, we're screwed. Now, will you let go of me? I'm just going to fool a dog on a possible way so that we can _run._ And we have to do that as fast as we physically can, then."  
He was tempted to let her go, but before, he grabbed her arm again and pulled her down from standing up again.

"Wait. Let's not see the worst case that we could be in. What if they really are searching for someone else? I'll get a bit closer while you stay here in safety. You've been doing the risky things up to now, let me do this."  
Margaery stared at him, her eyes darting around, but as the dogs barked again and scared her with that, she just nodded and looked the the ground with worry all written over her face. "Please stay safe."

"I will. And even if I won't, promise me that you will run when I get catched. Run north and get to Lady Stark, she'll save you no matter what. Don't even think about fighting when they catch me. And if we both get out of this-" he started before he stopped again, looking around nervously himself. It took him a few moments and a glare towards the Lannister men with their dogs coming even closer, before he looked at Margaery again, the decision made.  
"If we both get out of this and your health gets better, I'll teach you how to fight with a sword."

Margaery now seemed to be shocked, she definitely wasn't expecting him to offer this or even _think_ about it. He always wanted his sister to be safe and to not play around with swords – or even actually fight – but it seemed like the circumstances changed his mind.  
As Loras stood up, staying in the shadows, Margaery sunk into herself and sobbed quietly, holding a hand over her mouth. All the weakness and tiredness found it's way into her body again, making her collapse even more onto the ground. Her heart was aching, so she put her other hand on the place she felt the pain coming from. And Margaery cried and cried and cried. She couldn't look at Loras risking his life, no, at no cost would she look at that. Her heart was racing in her eyes and pounding against her chest, her hands were shaking and her face was wet with tears that just didn't stop coming out of her eyes anymore.   
And then, she wondered, when did she become so weak?

Margaery felt her air being cut off and she just wanted to scream loudly into the world to free her head, throat, heart and lungs.  
And now she lied on the ground in the fetus position, silently crying her eyes out while Loras ghosted around the tree and hid behind other bushes. He took a deep breath, having the focus on the dogs and the men coming with them. His heart was pounding fast but adrenaline rushed through his veins and made him actually enthusiastic about this action. Such a weird feeling in such a dangerous situation – maybe it was so new because the situation was actually dangerous. Not just a competition or anything. No, this was about life or death.

And he wasn't really fond of dying and leaving his weakened sister alone in this cruel world. Even though Loras told her what to do if he failed, how should she make it without him? They needed each other, no matter what. She especially needed someone that reminded her of the fact that she had to take good care of her wounds, or they would kill her faster than any Lannister soldier would.

But now, Loras shouldn't focus on that. He had to stay focused on getting closer to the Lannister men without them noticing him on the other side.   
He took a very deep breath, closed his eyes and opened them again before he left his hiding place behind the bushes to walk towards the next big tree and spin around it so that he stood on the side that the soldiers couldn't see.   
Loras still heard his heart beating in his ears, but he felt so enthusiastic and mighty over his own strength that it almost knocked him down. He slowly tilted his head so that he could look over the rounding of the tree to the Lannister men.

 _I still_ _can't_ _hear_ _anything,_ he thought with a nervous sigh. _Okay,_ _come_ _on_ _Loras_ _._ _You_ _already_ _managed_ _to_ _steal_ _the_ _keys_ _for_ _your_ _cell_ _from_ _the_ _faith_ _militants_ _once_ _._ _You_ _can_ _do_ _it_ _again. And now_ _there_ _are_ _only_ _two_ _men_ _and_ _two_ _dogs_ _._  
Loras clenched his fists and straightened his body again before he kneeled down while spinning around the tree, which brought him right behind a few bushes again. But they were more far away than the others, so he still had the protection of them in front of him while coming closer.

He flawlessly crawled over the floor, having the practice from crawling through the cell sometimes, too weak to stand up but too active in his mind to stay at one place all the time, his pulse rising and rising with every crawl he did. And then, he arrived at the bushes and could finally understand what they were saying. At least if he focused his senses on it completely. It was difficult to hear something, but he finally did hear _anything._

"–at Highgarden first. They couldn't have come further away than this in the time they had. Not if they really are as hurt as that woman said. So what's the point in searching here? The dogs apparently can't sense anything here too," one of the men said, what was why Loras' eyes widened and his breathing stopped for a moment, too scared to make any movement now that he knew that they really were searching for them already.   
He just hoped that the dogs wouldn't pick up his scent now because they were specified on them. Or were they? Maybe those men were dense enough to forget that they have to give the dogs the scent of the people they have to find first.

"Queen Cersei said that we have to search at every possible place the Tyrells could've fled to in this time. But you're right... I'm tired of this area. Let's just ride to Highgarden and say that no one was here," the second man agreed to his companion and Loras almost took a deep, relieved breath, but he hold it back to not fuck everything up after he had managed to keep unseen.

Only when they took off, when their chatting became inaudible for Loras even though he was sitting really close to the road they were walking on and when the barking of one of the dogs became more distant than it was before they even completely arrived here, he took his strength together and stood up on his instable legs to walk to his sister.  
He shivered, the adrenaline slowly leaving his body with the anxiety and stress from the situation he just had lived through, but then he sighed relieved, realizing that it went good. Loras just had to remind himself again and again and again or he couldn't quite believe anything that just happened.

He again looked around if they may left a trap or something, but his observing eyes didn't find any abnormalities in the area, so he really walked back to his sister, who at least wasn't lying on the ground anymore. No, she was sitting there, body straight, her glare staring into the nowhere. And it stayed like that, the emotionless copy of his happy, intelligent, flirty sister, until he cleared his throat while stretching his hand out towards here.

"Hey, are you ready to leave?" Loras asked with a little smile, trying to get rid off the knowledge that they already are being followed.  
"They were searching for us, right?" Margaery asked, not even turning her head towards her dear brother.  
"... They were."  
"How are we going to make it to Winterfell? I can't fight and it'll take time for me to learn anything, and we're both in danger to get infections because of our wounds. And now, before we even reached Hayford, we get the news that we are already being chased..."  
_Not again,_ Loras begged inside of his head, _why_ _does_ _one of_ _us_ _always have to_ _loose_ _all_ _the_ _hope_ _we_ _just built up..._

"Okay, listen. We'll walk to Hayford now, and we'll walk through. Because you were starting to become febrile, and we need the help. And we also need horses and weapons so that we can get forward faster and defend ourselves. And you know, it's not impossible for us to make it to Winterfell in around a month if we keep faithful to that plan," he told her and now leaned down towards her instead of reaching out with his hand.  
"Are you with me?"

Margaery gritted her teeth and her head seemed to start spinning a little, but she nodded, closing her eyes. And then she nodded again and opened her eyes to finally look at her brother, worry in her eyes, and he knew what would come, he just _knew_.   
"The Lannister men... where did they leave to now?" she asked though, making Loras look away with a sad expression in his face.   
"Highgarden."


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> »It was a risk. Of course it was – everything they would do was a risk now. Every step. Every breath. But if they scared away from those risks they were as screwed as when they took them.«

_Highgarden_ _,_ she repeated in her head over and over again with every step they were walking, _Highgarden_ _._ _They_ _are_ _on_ _their_ _way_ _to_ _Highgarden_ _._

They have been walking for hours now. And usually, they would've made a break again, since both of them had bad wounds and Margaery had been becoming febrile before the adrenaline kicked in – what didn't necessarily mean that the danger of having a fever vanished for Margaery.

 _In a_ _month_ _. Can_ _we_ _really_ _reach_ _Winterfell_ _in a_ _month_ _? Or_ _is_ _all of_ _this_ _a_ _lie_ _to_ _keep_ _me_ _going_ _? To_ _keep_ _us_ _going_ _?_ _God_ _... I just_ _don't_ _know_ _anymore_ _._

Her mind was a living mess, and a really bad one. She couldn't think straight without doubting everything again, without especially doubting herself. And no matter where she looked, there were only outlines of King's Landing behind them and outlines of houses in front of them, the trees next to them and the road they were following while staying a bit more hidden in the bushes. Nothing else. For hours now. Were they just really slow or has the way always been this long?

Margaery looked at her brother who was silent all the way through, and on top of that, worried to no end. Of course they were worried too – worried about their grandmother. She was at Highgarden and the Lannister soldiers were on their way to her too, and they would to everything to come inside and search for them. But Olenna Tyrell was intelligent enough to figure it out, she has always figured out everything. Margaery guaranteed her brother and herself that over and over again.

They first had to get any weapons and horses to actually be able to do _anything_ useful. And then, she also had to learn how to use a sword at all. She might manage to throw a knife through the eye of a man or woman, but a sword was a completely different thing.

Margaery sighed and so did Loras, what made them both smile for a short moment. They didn't talk a lot since the thing with the soldiers, they really didn't. They just walked and walked and walked, and their feet hurt, but they still walked forwards.

"Do you think I can cut my hair with a knife?" she asked out of nowhere, putting a hand on her destroyed and shortened hair.  
"Hm. It will be a bit difficult if the knife isn't really sharp but you actually should be able to. How short?" Loras asked, as if they were just chatting as usual, not on flight from Cersei and trying to finally reach Hayford.

"To the shoulders. And Loras... Should we really steal at the seat of a noble house? Won't they blow our cover anyways? How are we supposed to steal horses and weapons and then just ride out again."  
Loras stopped walking for a moment and fiercly stared at this sister.

"It's not very well guarded since they don't see themselves in danger at the moment. We'll get through. Just... I'll get a knife or a dagger and give it to you. You'll find horses and cut them free while I steal two swords for us and another dagger for myself. Okay?" he told Margaery, who was kinda stunned by all this planning her brother had made on his own. Of course she didn't doubt Loras' intelligence – it was just his health that she was doubting to be good. But apparently, his thoughts were better sorted than hers by now.

"Alright. It sounds like a plan that could work," she agreed nodding, looking down to the ground again.  
It was a risk. Of course it was – everything they would do was a risk now. Every step. Every breath. But if they scared away from those risks they were as screwed as when they took them.

And so, they walked on, and on, and on until one silhouette behind some tries began to become clearer.  
Margaery looked up and stared at the outline that could actually be Hayford. But she's never really been there – she had just traveled by and didn't look at it closely.  
But Loras... _Loras_ _must_ _know_ _,_ she thought, and then she put a hand on his shoulder. "Listen, do you see the clearer outline there? Is it... is it Hayford?" Margaery asked as she had gotten her brother's attention and she pointed at the direction she thought Hayford was in.

Loras concentrated on the direction for a moment and then he nodded a little bit unsure.  
"I'm not completely sure but it should be Hayford, yes."  
A light of joy flamed up inside Margaery and made her laugh loudly. She threw her arms in the air and shortly screamed "Yes!" out of pure relief. Loras laughed, her joy was motivating him to have a good feel in his stomach too, so he just couldn't help it anymore.

They felt as if they were on a better way now, now that they could see Hayford.

...

But as they stood right in front of the gates, they hold in for a moment.  
"Okay, so the plan is clear, right?" Loras assured for himself again and watched Margaery nod obviously concentrated and sincere.  
"Alright, let's get our hoods up then," he said and put his one up, turning his head to see Margaery to the same. She still carried the bag they had full with food and the cream, that she actually hid in a bush just a moment after. But they both were pretty sure that they would get what they want – even if their covers would've been blown off in the end.

A last serious stare into each other's eyes and they walked into the castle that was just before them.

A few strange looks met them, covered in their cloaks to no end out of their sight. But no one said anything or did anything, what calmed the two Tyrells down at least a bit. None of them thought that those creatures that just came in would do what they were about to do; or maybe they thought those humans would do worse, as they kinda looked like murderers from the shadow. Yeah, and some of the glares that they were getting fit with the assumption that people thought they were killers.

It was fear, fear and discomfort. The people at Hayford really wanted them to leave, they could feel that, and after some more steps inside by the two, even more realized that something was off.  
Loras slowly walked by a smithy and moved a little dagger back to his sister, who was standing right behind him. She took the chance and brought the dagger into her ownership. As same as a little knife that was lying around on the area where the dagger had been too.

"Go and cut the horses free," Loras instructed, slowly pushing her back with his own body, "They won't keep still for long anymore."  
Margaery took a small breath and stuffed the dagger and the knife into her cloak to hide it while she quickly walked away to search for horses that were leashed somewhere so she could cut them free.

"What is that person doing? Where is it going? Don't let them go!" some man screamed, and other people started to scream to, started to come closer to Loras and Margaery, and while she then started to run towards some horses she had seen, Loras stole a sword and another one quickly. He kept the second one in his left hand, and held the other one in his right, the hand he could fight with.  
The feel of a sword felt so weird in his hands. So weird, that he almost didn't see the smith coming over to him to attack him and fight him down.  
He felt adrenaline rushing through his veins as he turned the sword around and looked at the blade shimmering in the day light.

He breathed unstable, too kicked up by the rush in his body to remember that he couldn't fight with two swords, only with the one in his right hand. And the one in his right hand was not the one that could protect him from the angry mass of people right now.

He spun around the two swords in his hands as if he could actually use them both. And it made all the people that were coming close to him stop for a moment, look at him.

He straightened his body and lifted his head up, so that he at least could look at his environment, but the environment couldn't see anything but his chin and the hair of his beard there, and a little bit of his mouth already.  
"If you dare touching anyone of us, I'll end you with either my left or right sword," he announced loudly, a few tones deeper than his voice usually was, and only then he noticed the Smith lifting up a dagger.

Quickly and with a smoother movement than what he thought he was even able to do, Loras turned the sword and perfectly positioned it at the smith's throat.  
A few gasps were heard between the many people that were standing there, watching the scene.  
Loras was too wrapped up in this moment. He had the power over what would happen and what not. He almost didn't realize why he was doing this anymore.

And Margaery still ran, hiding from the people at Hayford behind wagons or other things. She heard her heartbeat racing in her ear, her hands shivering as she held the dagger and the knife hidden under the cloak.  
She couldn't hold them both anymore, hidden behind a wagon that has brought food to the castle before. And so he took the dagger and stabbed just right through her cloak, leaving it hanging there. And then, she clawed at the knife as if it was about life or death – what wasn't even so far from the actual matter of stealing this knife.

She took a deep breath and looked around the edge of the wagon to focus on the horses that she had found. The only one that were just leashed lightly, the only ones with little bags where they could put their stuff into without having to carry it themselves anymore. And again, she put before her eyes, why she was doing this; as soon as they would have the horses and the swords, they would be so, so much safer and faster. Margaery would learn how to fight and it may really take less time than on foot.

A last time, she clutched the knife to her chest, before she turned around and ran, just ran and ran through the whole court again, the horses in her focus. Margaery ran faster than she ever did, the hilt of the dagger bumping into her leg with every step she took, maybe it was as fast as when they escaped the Sept, but that would be the only situation to reach her speed here. And she was only functioning at the point, her thoughts and feels and pain from her now being stretched wounds were not getting to her, the only thing in her mind was running.

And so she reached the horses, almost ran into them, actually. Margaery took a deep breath, and she took the knife out of the hidden place that her cloak was. She couldn't even feel the knife while she almost impulsively grabbed the ropes that were holding the horses there, the horses that were becoming nervous by now. She looked into their eyes and she saw the fear, caused by the knife in her hands, but it didn't reach her.

The rush that overtook her was too huge to even let her feel how she put the knife at the rope and started to cut it through in a fast pace. A really fast pace.  
She was in the rush until she heard chinking sounds, definitely one of a sword or a dagger and someone screaming, shock going through all those people standing around the scene Margaery couldn't see.

 _No,_ she thought in her head, thinking of the worst thing that could've just happened. The thing that must've just happened.

 _"_ _Loras_ _,"_ _Margaery_ _brought out, even_ _though_ _she_ _wasn't_ _sure if_ _she_ _just_ _whispered_ _it_ _in her_ _head_ _or if_ _she_ _actually_ _said_ _it_ _out_ _loud_ _._  
_"No..."_

...

A moment of silence. A moment in which Margaery's eyes filled with tears. A moment in which he let her head turn to the ground, trying to hide her tears. No, this couldn't be.  
He couldn't have died. He couldn't have been killed, not at all and especially not so soon. How should Margaery reach the north without him? How should she even leave this place properly now? There was no way... no way...

"The man in the cloak escapes!" someone screamed, tearing through the silence and Margaery's losing of hope.  
_The_ _man in_ _the_ _cloak_ _,_ she thought, the tears stopping, replaced by confusion and curiosity. _But_ _they_ _killed_ _him_ _... Or_ _did_ _he..._

Margaery saw her brother in that moment, breaking through the wall of people. He had blood stains on the sword he was carrying in his right hand, and there was almost unseen blood on his cloak, too.  
He killed someone.  
Not someone him.  
Margaery took a deep breath, and another, and then, she screamed.

"BROTHER!" she tried, not using his name to keep their identity hidden. "HERE! I'M HERE!" she yelled on, but he still didn't hear. So she gave up in that, while she sniffed, recovering from the emotional shock and the tears to start cutting through the rope again.  
"Come on. Come on, come on, come-"  
And with one loud noise that was echoing through the place for a moment, Margaery had cut the rope in two halfs.

The sound got Loras' attention. Even though he felt numb at the blood he could feel on his hands, a bit of relief washed over the weirdness in his heart. He saw Margaery stuffing the knife into the bag of the brown horse, and trying to take care that the black horse right next to her wouldn't run away while getting the dagger out of her cloak again, too. She just tried everything at once, and Loras felt weird, so weird. Usually, he shouldn't feel weird when killing people – he had been at one way before. But this... something was wrong.

Still, he didn't want to get in trouble again, but he was about to get into exactly that, since the more skilled fighters of Hayford came into the sight, armed and fierce to stop the two strangers.  
Margaery still screamed for him, and he came, running, almost falling over his feet once.

As he arrived, he took the black horse in his keep, and a short eye contact with his sister existed, just before they stuffed their weapons into the bags and then got up on the horses they just cut free for themselves.  
"Run! Run! Now!" Loras ordered fiercly, and so commanding, that Margaery in her frightened and traumatized status just had to nod, forced by her psyche. She grabbed the horse's reins and made it start fast, galloping out of the gates that were at least a bit close so fast, that she almost fell down because the force was too strong. Margaery's heart raced to no end and her fingers felt numb as she held onto the horse like crazy, while the horse ran at it's top speed, leaving the castle behind it.  
She pressed her face into the mane of the creature she was riding on, not daring to look back to Hayford or to look to what's coming in front of here. The horse seemed to find it's way, but where was Loras now, why wasn't she hearing another horse?

"Go on! Hide and wait for me! I'll come to you! I promise!" he suddenly screamed and now she dared to look over her shoulder, seeing him ride around the castle, seemingly searching for something.

 _The_ _ba_ g, Margaery thought weakly, her consciousness fading away due to the whole stress, _he's_ _searching_ _for_ _the_ _bag_ _..._

She closed her eyes, turned around and leaned herself down on the horse again.  
"Please... Please, whatever God is there... Make my brother come to me," Margaery whispered into the horse's still quickly moving body, taking on it's scent and it's body warmth.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> »And the Tyrell had looked at her, had stared at her, and smiled. That smile, the glare, everything had made Sansa blush. It had been an definite answer to that joke – an answer Sansa never would've expected.«

Sansa stared at the paper in her hands as if it was written by a monster from the tales that Old Nan had told her a lot of times when she was younger. It had scared her a lot at the beginning, but even she came to like the stories in the end anyways. After hearing them a lot of times, Sansa could save for herself that those stories are just... well, stories. But this right there, just this, it wasn't a tale or a dream or anything. It was real.

Or was it? Sansa couldn't tell. Maybe someone wrote the letter to fool her, to make fun of her. Such a dumb assumption that two people in cloaks actually came into Hayford a day before to steal weapons and horses from them, what ended in them heading north from Hayford and leaving two badly hurt, but still not killed people, behind their backs.

Sansa still stared at it. People in cloaks, two, heading north... This was too surreal to be real at all. This had to be some kind of coincidence.  
It had to be. There was no way, no way that they would be alive and currently heading north.

Sansa was about to throw the letter into the fire again, but then she remembered what happened last time. The last time was when she started to create this weird reality she was trying to put the Tyrells in. Sansa just couldn't accept their deaths – and this was the result of it.

And somehow she wanted to throw it into the fire. Wanted to get false hopes. Wanted to fool herself – but there was no fooling herself anymore. She wasn't a little child anymore. Sansa had to be mature now, stopping to believe in child fantasies.

 _But Jon_ _believed_ _it_ _,_ _too_ _,_ she reminded herself, stopping in her movement for a moment.  
But then Sansa just closed her eyes, ripped the letter into little pieces and threw it out of the window, avoiding the fire.

Sometimes she forgot what _child_ _fantasy_ had saved Jon's life – or more like, brought it back.  
A little smile found it's way on her lips as she thought of the possibility that Margaery and Loras were coming back to her. Especially Margaery, to whom she had such a special relationship back in King's Landing; she didn't even know how she would react if Margaery one day just stood in front of the gates of Winterfell.

The smile grew bigger. Maybe she would do what she had said anytime earlier; the joke where she complained about how she would actually like to marry Margaery more than Joffrey by then. And she had said it into her face.

And the Tyrell had looked at her, had _stared_ at her, and smiled. That smile, the glare, everything had made Sansa blush. It had been an definite answer to that joke – an answer Sansa never would've expected.  
And maybe marrying Margaery really wasn't a bad idea anymore.

Sansa laughed and shook her head. What a joke this whole situation was, though. She, standing there, musing about the Tyrells. But hey – there has never been so much hope that she would see them again than there was right now.

——————

She had been riding for hours straight, that was sure, before she stopped riding and almost fell down from the horse. She had been past Brindlewood, that's for sure.

And maybe Margaery had been getting really close to Sow's Horn already, maybe it had been there just around the little curve she had to take. But instead, she hid in that curve, crawling inside the bushes, easy enough to be seen by someone who seeks for her but too hidden to people that were just passing by. And the horse, she had hidden the horse with her. It was standing there, eating the grass from the close ground.

Margaery had taken the dagger and the knife out of the saddle bag and was still clutching them to her chest.

Her breathing was still really panicked and Margaery knew that this could open up her hiding place to others if she kept this panic.  
So, she started to calm herself down a bit, putting the knife to the ground this time and only keeping the sharp dagger in her hands.

Margaery spun around the dagger, looking at the blade reflecting the light of the moon. And then she realized how she really had completely ignored the fact that it had gotten dark while she was riding the horse to this place.

But now, as she looked into the night sky, she had to crack a smile. It looked so beautiful; the stars reflecting on the blade as the moon did that too. The moon was actually shining really bright this night and it made Margaery even more relaxed. It was as if all of this came out to calm her down – and she wondered when the last time was where she watched the stars.

Oh, she remembered. It was with Sansa, the evening before Margaery's wedding with Joffrey.  
_"I'm worried," the girl had said and she had taken the other girl's hands, "I don't want him to hurt you like he hurt me."_  
_But Margaery had only smiled at Sansa and freed her hands to grab Sansa even more lovingly._  
_"I'll be fine, I promise. I'm fine as long as you'll be, alright? Let's think about something else. The beautiful night sky, for example."_  
Margaery didn't realize how she threatened to completely sink into this beautiful memory – but actually, she was fine with it. It was rare that she could feel this way now.

 _Sansa looked up to the sky, and then Margaery realized that she hadn't been paying attention to that before. Slowly, she put an arm around Sansa and held her close, shortly closing her eyes before glaring up at the sky again._  
_"I hope we have some more of those moments in the future. I want you to be as happy as you can be here. If there's anything I can do..." Margaery told here, letting the rest of the offer hanging in the air. But Sansa understood, and inside her mind, she had some things that she wished for to be given to her by Margaery. And Margaery saw that in her eyes as they shortly looked at each other, but she didn't try to get it out of her by force. That wouldn't have been right_ – and because they separated a night after, she never found out what Sansa wanted.

And with that, Margaery snapped back into the hard reality. The reality of her sitting in the bushes, holding in to a dagger that reflected the moon and the stars on it's blade.  
With that, and with the sound of a horse coming closer.  
Hope spread through her whole heart and almost made her jump up in pure joy – but then Margaery realized that it could be someone else passing by and that she shouldn't come out from her covers yet.

But as the horse came into her sight so that she could see the person sitting on it in a dark, big coat with the hood on, she just had to stand up, letting the dagger fall to the ground, and wave towards it.  
"Loras! I'm so glad to see you!" Margaery shouted towards the rider and walked, her horse's reins in her right hand, to her brother and his horse.

Loras pulled his hood off and a smile of pure relief was plastered all over his face. He came closer with the horse and then dismounted to get to his sister too.  
They met halfway and hugged each other pretty tight, so tight that Margaery had to hold back an "ouch" because her wounds were suddenly speaking up again.  
"Did you get the bag?" she asked then with new found worry and Loras nodded, the smile still on his face.  
"... I had to seriously harm a person to get it back, though," he added a bit embarrassed, showing her the bloody sword from his saddle back.

Margaery gulped but nodded herself. Of course, what did she expect? That everything would just go perfectly fine without harming anyone?

She gave her brother a smile and then turned around to her horse for a moment.  
"So, we'll continue riding right now, will we?" Margaery asked unsure, looking back at him. "I mean, they're gonna search us around the area. We have to at least get a bit further away to be safe enough for the training you promised me you would give me."

Loras nodded. "Alright, but let's stay here. They will chase us more than really search since the last thing they saw of both of us was that we were racing away. We can hide the horses behind the bushes and tree and go training through the whole night. You'll need some good practice to be able to fight a more skilled fighter," he told his sister, surprising her since she had thought that he was gonna take his words back – but he really had meant it.

And then, when Margaery had agreed to the idea and Loras had taken the horses to leash them to the tree, more hidden than Margaery thought they could be, he took the swords out of the saddle bag.

He kept the bloody one for himself and have Margaery the other one. And as she took it just lightly, it almost teared her arms down, but with a little huff, she kept it up.  
"You didn't expect it to be heavy, did you? You have to grip it strongly, so that you can have it in your control."  
He came closer and corrected her way of holding the sword lightly with one of her hands. And as soon as Loras had finished correcting it, it actually felt better in her hands, she had to admit.  
"Alright," Margaery said, just to say something and not just stand there weirdly.

"How does it feel?" Loras asked, standing a few feet away with his own sword in his hands.  
Margaery turned the thing in her hand around slowly as she had done it with the dagger, and her heart began racing. Something about the sword made her feel excited. Maybe it was the blade shimmering in the moonlight, too. Or maybe it was just the feel of holding this bigger sword in her hands, the feel of being armed really strongly. It was as if nothing could stop Margaery now.

"It feels..." she started and gulped, starting to smile slightly as she moved the sword around a bit, "... good. It feels great."  
Loras smiled too and he tilted his head before he got himself in position.  
"Okay, so, I'm gonna attack you and you'll just try to defend yourself, you understand? I'm not gonna harm you, but it's better to tell yourself that so you listen to your reflexes of protecting yourself from the other person," he instructed, focusing on his sister and seeing how she nodded fiercly, copying his way of standing stabilized before he took a step and another forward and used his sword to attack Margaery.  
And even though he really wasn't gonna hurt her, he saw the fear in Margaery's eyes as she turned her head to the ground in one quick movement while closing her eyes and quickly lifted up her own sword, adrenaline and panic rushing through her body at once, so that her hands were shivering for a moment.

Or her wholy body shivered for a moment because the sword of her brother hit hers.  
"Yes, you see what I mean with reflexes."  
Margaery opened her eyes and looked up, confused at the fact that she just blocked the hit. She stared at the meeting spot of the two swords in surprise, but then her brother used her missing attention and reached back to hit her side with the wider area of the heart to not hurt her seriously, but it still knocked her to the ground thanks to the wounds she still had all over her body.

Loras stared down at her and he knew that there was a lot of work to do, and he felt bad for hurting his sister.  
But then she looked up with a smug smile on her lips, the fight burning in her eyes, what just was actually pretty scary, and she stood up from the ground in one smooth movement, not letting the sword fall out of her hand at all. No, her grip around it became even stronger. 


End file.
